HILO — The third try might be the charm for securing legislative funding for rat lungworm disease research.
Companion bills introduced in the state House and the Senate would appropriate money to the University of Hawaii at Hilo for continued management of the disease as well as educational outreach and laboratory research.
East Hawaii, particularly Puna, is considered the United States’ epicenter for the disease, which people contract by coming into contact with a parasitic nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis. Rats and mollusks such as snails and slugs host the nematode at various points of their lifecycles. People typically become infected after eating unwashed produce.
In most cases, the disease causes flu-like symptoms. Because it affects the central nervous system, it also can cause paralysis and lead to comas or, in rare instances, death.
Researchers at the UH-Hilo School of Pharmacy investigate rat lungworm disease while relying on funding sources such as the Hawaii Community Foundation and the Hawaii Invasive Species Council. Work also is being done at the U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center.
This is the third consecutive year state legislators have attempted to secure appropriations.
Sens. Russell Ruderman, Josh Green and the late Gil Kahele introduced a bill in 2015 that was carried over to last year’s session. That bill did not receive a hearing. Ruderman introduced a second bill last year that was heard before committees but did not cross over.
This year’s bills were introduced in the Senate by Kahele’s son, Kai, D-Hilo, who now sits in his father’s Senate District 1 seat, and in the House by freshman Rep. Chris Todd, D-Keaukaha, Hilo, Panaewa, Waiakea.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.